


30 iTunes meme drabbles

by like-i-love-you (Iron_Sidhe)



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:18:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7111006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iron_Sidhe/pseuds/like-i-love-you
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The itunes meme: Put your itunes on shuffle and write a drabble while each song is playing (10 songs).</p>
            </blockquote>





	30 iTunes meme drabbles

**Author's Note:**

> First 10 previously posted 3/29/09  
> Other 20 previously posted 4/25/09
> 
> I've posted them in chronological order. Some of the best ones are probably after the first 10.

Something That I Already Know- Backstreet Boys (POV either David)  
David wondered how they got where they were. All the flash and promise and glitter of Idol was gone. No more bright lights and secret smiles when the camera panned away. It was just David and David in the dark. Waiting for the moment when one of them finally let go. Only a hundred fights to late. Only a nearly but never perfect love broken in the space between them.

 

Color Blind- Counting Crows (POV David Cook)  
Confetti filled the air. The lights were as blinding as they always were. Only David’s smile shone brighter. Cook thought it had never been so bright as when the younger man heard “and the winner is David... Cook”. It was the one moment when he expected David to finally look away and instead...

All David could see was Cook. He didn’t feel like a runner up. He felt like he was waiting for something only he didn’t know what. When Cook slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him forward David knew. He was ready. He was fine.

 

Jacob’s Well- Nicol Sponberg (Archuleta’s POV)  
He was sick of the blinding glare, sick of the questions. Even his underwear wasn’t private anymore. He’d thought he was ready. He’d spent so long telling everyone that ‘17 isn’t that young’. He couldn’t bear to prove them right. He had to find a way to get through this. When his phone rang he was startled. He had no idea how long he’d been lost in thought. It was David Cook so he picked up.  
“Archuleta?”  
“Yes?” he answered.  
“I thought I was ready but it’s too much of everything...”  
Suddenly he didn’t feel so alone.

 

Ghost- Indigo Girls  
David Cook stepped out of the grocery store to find a microphone stuck in his face. He thought they’d finally moved on.  
“Why only one album?” the blond reporter asked. “Why did you give up music?”  
Cook had no intention of answering. He never did. How could he ever explain that to him music meant David Archuleta. It was 11 weeks and losing his heart to a man, more a boy and much to young for him. That he didn’t want to do even the first album but he didn’t have a choice. It was sealed court documents and a restraining order. It was David’s last words. “Don’t let them take you away from me!”, when they both knew Cook had no choice.

 

La La- Ashlee Simpson (Archuleta’s POV)  
David didn’t think he was so good at this dominant thing. Cook said he was learning and really things where fine as they were. David just wished he could find the confidence. It was the whole problem and they both knew it. It was exhilarating when David managed it, so different from the rest of his life. It’s why he was now able to understand how his boyfriend (David liked that word) felt. Cook was always so in control and sometimes he liked to let that control go. David was going to work on his confidence. One day he’d surprise Cook. He’d show him who was boss. If only sometimes, in bed.

 

No Souvenirs- Melissa Etheridge (POV either David)  
He didn’t feel like Romeo so maybe he was Juliet. Although he wasn’t sure that they were anything like Shakespeare. They were just star crossed lovers and he’d let go. Walked away without looking back. The fact he couldn’t see where he was going through the tears didn’t count for anything. He’d smashed his foot into a table leg after all. The fact he’d already been crying was just a technicality. He was going to do the right thing if it killed him. Pack up his heart like it had never meant anything. He had nothing but his memories. They would have to be enough. He couldn’t have David. Even that last ‘I love you’ couldn’t make him stay. He bit his lip to keep the words in. “I love you too.”

 

Never Gonna Give You Up- Rick Astley  
Cook had meant every word. Of course it made no sense. He was 25 and David was only 17. Since when was love supposed to make sense. He wasn’t in any rush. David didn’t have to suddenly grow up for him. He could wait. It’s not to say it wouldn’t be hard but some things were worth self-depravation. He didn’t plan to let go. Really David had to work on his confidence. He wasn’t just good at singing. He was worth more than just his voice. Cook would just have to convince him.

 

Megamix- Milli Vanilli  
Cook was a stubborn fool and old enough to know better. Pride wasn’t worth this pain. And he had no right breaking David’s heart. He knew he had to be careful and he’d gone and fucked it all up. He had to find a way to make it better. He was the adult. Some one shouldn’t have to be the adult but that’s what he got for falling in love with a 17 year old. It didn’t really matter that he was an amazing 17 year old and more grown up then you might think. Cook knew he had to learn to be more open. David was just finding his way. Cook had experience and years over the younger man. Sometimes extra words went a long away. Still, he knew where he wanted to be in 60 years- with David. He knew David wanted the same things, he just didn’t entirely know how to get there from here. So when he knocked on his boyfriend’s door. (He wasn’t going to think about the ex part.) Cook was ready to grovel if that’s what it took.

 

She’s Like the Wind- Patrick Swayze  
(Straight is used as in straight and narrow not as opposed to gay.)  
He was temptation and sin. No- he was smiles and innocence. Either way Cook new he was lost. In beautiful brown eyes. In a voice so pure sometimes he never wanted to sing again if he could just listen forever. He could be a star. He could win this competition. Some days he wanted loose. David should win. Some days he just wanted David.

He wished he believed more in the bible. Maybe fear of God would keep him straight. He knew the way this was going he would fall and hell was only steps away. When he pushed David into an empty room and pinned him to the wall it didn’t matter how the younger man responded to his kiss. Cook knew he’d already lost his soul, his heart- as if they’d ever been his to keep. They’d just been waiting for David.

 

Same Old Brand New You- A1  
He knew no one thought it made sense. Everyone was looking for David and David. Apparently Cook and Castro came out of nowhere. He knew who Jason was when this whole thing began. That was before the pot got worse. Okay so it wasn’t David‘s thing but he didn’t mind until Jason was stoned more then he wasn’t. He kept saying he would stop but he never did. David watched pot turn into more and he didn’t know how to walk away. To be the guy who left Jason to end up dead with a needle in his arm wasn’t something he could face.

It was days like today when Jason never made it to the concert. When the reporters asked ‘Where’s your boyfriend?’ and David had to lie. (They’d come out back when things where good.) It was days like today that David wondered if 8 years difference and not yet 18 where really the issues he’d thought they were. It was days like today he missed Archuleta the most.

 

Cry Me A River (remix w/50 Cent)- Justin Timberlake  
Cook hadn’t thought cheating was in David’s vocabulary. He’d been so worried some one would think he was going to cheat on David. It was just that no one seemed to buy the relationship- all three who knew. Apparently not even David. He understood why Carly and Michael didn’t. Who could understand Noriega; he was David’s pick to tell anyways.

How many 25 year olds date someone so young and never push for anything? He was beginning to realize that maybe David’s desire for secrecy wasn’t so much about “what if you go to jail” as it was about how if he was supposedly single then he could still see other people. He had to thank Michael Johns for the lovely party the other night. Copious amounts of alcohol and Castro started spilling his secrets. Jason had some very interesting things to say. He really owed the older man a thank you. He thought sleeping with Michael was a good way to repay him. Besides the tape was a great fuck you to give David.

 

Tougher Then the Rest- Bruce Springsteen  
David was all bright smiles and a lilting laugh for the cameras. He was the innocent little Mormon boy. On camera he was, as some of the contestants had nicknamed him, Utah. He wasn’t on camera now. Down to the top ten the other contestants knew him a little better. A little because he wasn’t someone you could easily get to know. Cook was determined to find a way in. The boy was walking wounded and his father didn’t seem to care or didn’t know. When Cook found him sobbing in a room backstage he didn’t hesitate to pull the younger man into his arms. When David started talking Cooks heart broke.

“My boyfriend killed himself. I’ve never told anybody that. I never had someone to tell.”

 

Building Bridges- Brooks & Dunn  
It should not be, but it was. Cook was in love with someone who should have been absolutely wrong for him. It was the best thing he’d ever had. They barely got their relationship off the ground and Idol was over. He didn’t expect it to be the end of David & David. He didn’t think David ever meant it to be over but Idol and Cook were so different from anything David had ever known. Going home had to be hard. But he at least expected e-mails and phone calls. He was sending but David wasn’t responding. He was counting on the tour to let them fix things. Cook needed the time to find a way to show David that he could fit in to his life as much as David had found away into Cooks. After all, he didn’t know how he would live without his heart.

 

Geek In The Pink- Jason Mraz  
Castro didn’t need this. He didn’t try out for Idol because he needed more drama in his life, but drama was what he got. First his girlfriend breaks up with him. So maybe he had known things were coming to an end. It was still sucky timing. Then he got caught up in Carly’s drama after a huge fight with her husband. He didn’t feel like he knew what to say to her but she seemed to think he helped. Apparently she was singing his praises because a week later Michael Johns showed up at his room. After he talked Michael out of making a play for Cook when he already had something good, the older man left. Jason didn’t entirely understand why he’d come by in the first place. Michael didn’t want to cheat when he showed up and he wasn’t going to when he left. Jason couldn’t see how he’d done anything. When Cook knocked on his door, apparently Cook had been talking to Michael, he said he needed to talk about David. Jason shut the door in his face. He could tell what the other man was hinting at and he was not getting stuck in the middle. Jason waited for Cook to leave and then called his boyfriend.

“Can you... can you come over?” Jason clutched the phone. There was a huge difference in his mind between 3 years and 8, between his life experiences and Cook’s.  
“Of course” Jason let out the breath he’d been holding. David was coming.

 

Harden My Heart- Quarterflash  
It was a New York City street corner standing in the rain. He was such a mess he didn’t think anyone would recognize him. He wasn’t sure he cared if they did. This was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Harder than waiting for David to be 18 because the wait was worth it, because the price was too high. “I can’t lose you. We’re waiting David.” It was harder than the year it took David tell his parents. “I know how hard it can be. I can wait.” It was one small secret blown wide open. Michael Johns hadn’t felt the need to wait. Cook would only ever be a winner on American Idol. When it came to David he was just the runner up.

 

Red, White, and Blue- Rascal Flatts & Brian McKnight  
Cook never thought he’d go. All he’d ever wanted to do was sing. He never counted on the draft, but there are some threats you can’t see coming. He wasn’t entirely sorry he was there. This was WWII all over again and he was saving the free world.

He was saving the free world. At least that's what Cook tried to tell him but David wasn’t buying it. Cook didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t as if David didn’t understand why Cook was there, because he did. He knew that as soon as he graduated high school his number might come up. He wasn’t ready for that. He was too young. It shocked him to realize he felt that way. He’d spent so long telling the people he trusted, a select few other Idol contestants, that he was old enough. Old enough for Cook- who was lying to him like a child, but he felt like a child when he thought about what was going on over there.

Cook really wasn’t entirely sorry he was there, despite the lie he was still trying to sell David. If they could just win this thing before they sent David over here- before they broke him- Cook would kill enemy soldiers until he couldn’t wash the dead out of his soul.

 

Scorn Not His Simplicity- Sinead O’Connor  
David missed Danny. They’d become better friends on the show then he would have thought and lasted more years then he was expecting. It wasn’t even intentional on Danny’s part. Danny meant well and he tried hard but it wasn’t enough and Cook was not as forgiving as David.

Cedric was beautiful. He looked nothing like his fathers with grey-blue eyes and golden ringlets but he was theirs, Cedric Archuleta-Cook, son of David and David. Developmental delayed was what the doctors had said. Permanently stalled was the reality they’d come to live with. Danny had a bad habit of tripping over his own two feet and making Cedric’s differences stand out. David was sorry to say goodbye but he knew Danny had to go.

 

Just a Dream- Carrie Underwood (written as a sequel to Red, White, And Blue)  
David dropped the letter on the floor. He’d opened the envelope without looking. It had his name on it didn’t? Two months. He’d never be ready. He wondered what Cook thought of Canada. It was a nice place. Or Europe, they could be European stars. David would happily learn German. Or Lithuanian. A small village would be fine. They could learn to raise goats and chickens. The knocking on the door was pretty loud by the time David heard it. Still in shock he answered the door to find Michael Johns.

They buried Cook on the Wednesday before David left for boot camp. ‘Not ready’, and ‘to young’ didn’t mean anything anymore.

 

Smooth Criminal- Michael Jackson  
Cook used to think he had all the crazy fans. David was too nice and too innocent (or at least he had been before Cook) to attract nut cases. He’d changed his number 5 times already. David had only had to change his once. Cook lost a good shirt and got his throat hurt by the grabbing crowd. Someone had stolen David’s bracelet which was only worse because it was the one Cook had given him. Cook’s underwear showed up on e-bay. David’s used napkins were for sale. Cook thought David was safe. He thought David was safe when he came home to find the door a jar. He thought David was safe when he saw the plate spilled on the floor. He thought David was safe until he saw the blood and the body on the floor. Then he didn’t think anymore.

 

Fairies Wear Boots- Black  
Misconceptions and stereotypes were everywhere. David was learning that the hard way. He’d had a chance to have the one thing he wanted most and his preconceived notions had made him blind. He liked Danny, he really did. Danny was funny and kind and sweet and not David Cook which was okay. At least it was when David knew he couldn’t have Cook. Because Cook was not gay. He was an awesome rocker dude and nothing like David or Danny or Elton John. Now David had Danny but he wasn’t as happy as he had been. He’d seen Cook and Johns as they shut their hotel room door. Kissing.

 

Rest Stop- Matchbox Twenty  
It was almost over and Cook wasn’t ready to let go. He looked over at the younger man sleeping next to him. He knew that time was about to get very scarce and he wasn’t ready to let go. He didn’t want to waste a minute. He wanted... He wanted to think Jeff would give David the freedom to make his album his. It didn’t matter who won the competition. Cook knew that either way David was going to have a record contract.

David looked over at Cook. He was resting in a chair waiting for the producers to give them instructions. It was almost over and David was realizing that he had bigger and brighter things ahead of him. He didn’t want to say it, but it was time to let Cook go.

 

Crazy In Love (song clip)- Kane (Christian Kane)  
Cook didn’t know how his heart hadn’t burst. The voice of the angel was singing again. The angel was all light and smiles and an innocence that Cook didn’t think he’d ever had. He wasn’t going to let the recording industry or the younger man’s pushy father destroy it. He was crazy in love but what he wanted most of all was to wait.

 

Come Undone- Duran Duran (POV David Cook)  
He felt like he was coming apart at the seams. It was like nothing he’d ever known. The breath of fresh air he hadn’t known he’d need. The voice of an angel gone all wanton with need. It was a full body flush as hands reached out for more. It was the echo of something familiar to realize that it was the frequency of the songs always in his head. It was the memory of the cries that carried him through the day. A soundtrack to his life he felt like he’d always been waiting for. It was David coming undone in his arms.

 

With You in Your Dreams- Hanson  
Cook knew that David wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He wasn’t either but he knew he could make it through this time they had to be apart. David had to go back to a place where he couldn’t be himself. Cook wasn’t one to advertise but he wasn’t one to keep secrets. He’s never taken a boyfriend home only because he’s never had a boyfriend. Not to say he’s never had a man. David has never taken a boyfriend home because he can’t. In fact in the boyfriend department David had done surprisingly well for keeping secrets. It gave Cook hope that they could hold on to the secret of David and David for a few more months. Cook had been ready to wait but enough of the other contestants had pushed the Davids together and he had caved. There wasn’t much he could say to help David through the coming months.

“I’m only a phone call away but you won’t ever be alone. I’ll be with you in your dreams.”

 

Blasphemous Rumours- Depeche Mode  
David held onto his religion like a security blanket. If he could only believe enough he could be the kind of son his parents deserved. He could do the right things and he could hold on to his family. He felt like he was drowning. Drowning in a religion he wasn’t sure he believed in, the very religion he was counting on to save his soul. He was weighted down by the Bible he carried everywhere- hidden in his backpack where no one ever looked. He tried to find a reason for his burden, a reason for God to test him so. He sang every note perfect to please his father, perfect so God would know he wasn’t wasting his talent. He held his arms around his chest and tried to keep everything inside. He couldn’t let his sins out for the whole world to know. He smiled.

Cook could see right through the desperate prayers he heard fall from David’s lips every night. When he pushed the younger man against the wall and kissed him, David finally felt God’s love.

 

The Way You Move- Outkast  
David felt like he’d never known what sex was before which was ridiculous. It wasn’t like he was a virgin as much as he might have projected to the rest of the world. There were some things his parents didn’t ever need to know. Sarah, Melissa, and Rebekah and were on that list, so was Jeremy. Back before the top 12 he added Danny. Cook was something else. It was all that more effective because David knew Cook knew exactly what he was doing. He had a habit of just strolling into David’s room unannounced. David also knew Cook thought it was an amusing joke.

When Cook walked in on a young man half dressed in painted on black jeans looking like sex on legs with a predators smile he had to double check the room number. The porn voice that spoke his name was too perfect to be anything but David and Cook was lost.

 

Secure Yourself- Indigo girls (POV David Archuleta)  
American Idol was more freedom than David had ever known, even with his father staring over his shoulder. There were too many other people. He couldn’t remember the last time his knees hadn’t ached. He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t prayed for hours more days then he didn’t. He couldn’t remember the last time singing had been a pure joy. Reveling in this gift of God, and not his father’s god, but a God who didn’t believe David was a sin.

 

Hold On- Jamie Walters (POV David Cook)  
He didn’t have a magic wand, or magic words, or a magic lawyer. All Cook had was his love. He could only hope that it could be enough. Love had to be enough to get David to 18 because David knew he had something worth living for now. It made the secret darkness that much harder for the younger man to bear. It made the lies that much harder to keep. Cook was praying that these moments where enough to keep David going, perfect moments of laughter and love. He was going to hold on until the very last moment when they had to say goodbye. He was going to be there in spirit if not in flesh. If it came down to it, he would give up his music, take David, and run. There was nowhere he wouldn’t go to keep a smile on David’s face. The genuine smiles he kept only for Cook, the smiles that really meant I love you.

 

Needle and The Damage Done- Neil Young  
David was holding on to Cook. There was no point hiding now. They were the only ones left. Not literally because David Hernandez, Amanda Overmeyer, and Chikezie were fine. Kristy Lee Cook was only dying of Cancer but the papers were still counting her as one of the Idol 7 from the cursed seventh season. Everyone who mattered was gone. Syesha had gone first. There were rumours about how she’d gotten her record contract. They were ridiculous but they ate away at her until she caved. It wasn’t long before the poison had eaten away the rest and she overdosed. Heroin. Then Castro took a flying trip out a 23rd story window. Carly learned the hard way the sometimes e was really rat poison. Ramiele was singing in a sleazy lounge when the cocaine finally ended her ride. Michael lasted longer than anyone would have imagined given his habits, (you name it he did it) but he finally did in his liver. Brooke was the last though no one had known she had any kind of drug habit. So David was holding on to Cook. The tabloids said Cook would be next. Cook had no addictions but David was not going to let some curse he did not believe in take the man he loved.

 

Boondock Saints Theme (POV David Cook)  
If this was love he’d never been in love before. If this wasn’t love then it was heaven and David Cook was dead. It was everything he’d never known he wanted. It was ties that bind and he’d never want to cut. It was putting his heart in some one else’s hands. His perfect spring day that never seemed to end. It was hope he thought he’d lost along the way. It was perfect lips and perfect pitch. It was making music and makin’ music if you knew what he meant. It was right before they said goodbye and the moment they said hello again.


End file.
